[rollei_list] Re: Planar for Leica M

I have liked the Contax G Zeiss lenses. I think that Zeiss must have
insisted on some sort of quality control from Kyocera. What is beginning to
look bad is Schneider's relationship with Samsung. Samsung seems to have
licensed their name and attached it to at least one Pentax lens. And the
new, sexy-looking Samsung digicam has a "Schneider" lens on it that could
win the purple-fringe contest.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com
http://400tx.blogspot.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marc James Small
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:54 PM
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Planar for Leica M


At 09:32 PM 9/27/2006, Jeffery Smith wrote:
>That's the lens that was produced when Rollei released their 
>disappointing 35RF a few years ago. I have the 40mm Sonnar, which is a 
>very fine lens. I believe that the lenses were produced by Cosina in 
>Japan (which is who produced the Rollei 35RF).

Jeffery

For once, I have to admit that I just do not 
know.  I do know that the Japanese are REALLY 
fired up with concerns that the "Carl Zeiss" name 
on a lens has to mean more than just a brand 
name.  This clocked the original deal to replace 
Zeiss Ikon with a Japanese-produced SLR camera 
body:   The Zeiss Foundation worked with Asahi 
from 1966 to 1971 to do this but Asahi kept 
insisting that ALL "Zeiss" lenses had to be 
manufactured in Germany to ensure product 
acceptance in the Home Islands, and Zeiss was 
then frantic to get out of photographic lens 
production, so the deal foundered -- they both 
got the rights to the multi-coating technology 
they had mutually produced, and Asahi was given 
the intended lens-mount as a sort of booby 
prize:  this became the K Mount, so that Asahi 
made its fame on two Carl Zeiss designed mounts, M42 and the K mount.

Zeiss then turned to Yashica but the deal was 
started with a Zeiss insistence that most lens 
production be done in Japan.  Yashica bought an 
old Tominon plant and that became the dedicated 
Zeiss plant in Japan -- final inspection is 
conducted in a sealed part of the plant which is 
supposedly known to the workers there as "the 
round-eye room" as the inspectors were Germans 
for many years, though a couple of Chinese and at 
least on Japanese worked there in its last years.

Given this, I would not be surprised to learn 
that Cosina is making these lenses, but I would 
expect German inspectors and the like, as was the 
case with the Contax RTS lenses.

And note that despite their best interests, Zeiss 
STILL ended up making the specialty lenses in 
Oberkochen and Geissen.  Zeiss in 1970 was making 
a LOT of money from military and industrial 
contracts -- they made as much profit off of one 
submarine periscope as they did from a hundred 
Ha$$elblad lenses, for instance -- and so they 
wanted to go to the money well.  This changed 
quite a bit with the death of the Cold War:  nota 
bene that Zeiss is now willing to once again do 
one-off's and low-production runs of photographic 
lenses.  And digital gave them a boost:  Zeiss 
has produced more lenses for digital cameras, I 
understand, than ALL photographic lenses at Jena, 
Saalfeld, Eisfeld, Munich, Geissen, and 
Oberkochen.  Sony has made Zeiss quite a bit of money.

Marc



Marc James Small
Quo Usque Tandem Abutere, Catalina, Patientia Nostra?
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!


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